According to the present prior art fabrics having loops, such as terry from which e.g. bath towels are made, consist of loops that are drawn from a supplementary warp thread or weft thread and fastened on the fabric or ground layer. In technical literature, such fabrics are also referred to as looped fabrics, whereby the loops are formed by the warp or the weft. Such fabrics are respectively also referred to as warp or weft looped fabrics.
The ground fabric consists in general of a woven underlayer. Weave of the ground fabric may comprise, but is not limited to, a plain weave, a panama weave or a twill weave. The loops are most frequently made of cotton or another fibre. Such fibres and the underlayer to which the loops are fastened, are not always biologically degradable. Besides cotton, other fibres of natural or synthetic origin are known. More specifically, with regard to terry, cotton fibres are preferably used.
The main characteristics of looped fabrics are determined by the loops which are generally, but not necessarily, provided on both sides of the ground fabric. The main purpose of such looped fabrics is their use as towel to dry the body. This implicates a great number of specific requirements, including good water absorption; a certain flexibility; an acceptable consistency of the loops; good stabilities: the towel should be resistant against washing at high temperatures, sunlight, etc. . . . ; the towels should satisfy certain dimensions that are requested by a customer.
Looped fabrics are most frequently applied as cloths such as towels, bathrobes, but recently also more as a technical fabric for example in the application as walking socks. Looped fabrics also have other applications such as for floor mats (heavy structure) for bathrooms as well as for clothing.
Not all terry has been woven, knitted terry is frequently employed in clothing. Also, in woven terry, the loops may be sheared or “wounded” by shearing. In such case, a rather fluffy surface or in the case of complete shearing of the loops, a real velvet surface can be obtained.
Present looped fabrics, and more in particular cotton bath fabrics, have the disadvantage of considerably shrinking when being washed. The degree in which the terry shrinks depends or the construction of this terry cloth, the used yarns and the industrial finishing thereof. Also uniformity of the loops on the terry is an important aspect.
Another main disadvantage is that the loops, and in particular the loops of the terry, can easily be elongated, such that under normal circumstances of use of the cloths, problems with elongated loops will occur.
Some terry-cloths show a slower absorption of water, the colours of the fabrics in the terry can also change/bleach. Often, the use of the terry results in deformations and a consequence can be that the terry is drawn.
The present invention intends to provide an improved looped fabric and more in particular a terry which at least partially resolves the above-mentioned problems.
In particular, the present invention aims to provide a looped fabric having a more efficient water absorption capacity.